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MODERN NECROMANCY: - 



A SERMON 



PREACHED IN TRINITY CHURCH, WASHINGTON CITY, 
APRIL 23, 1854. 



BY 



.*& 



KEY. C. M. BUTLER, D.D., EECTOB. 






PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



WASHINGTON: 

G. S. GIDEON, PRINTER. 
1854. 



A 



ft 



>V 



SERMON. 



"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and 
unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for 
the living to the dead? 

*'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is be- 
cause there is no light in them." 

7s. vih. 19, 20. 



Many persons, in our day, are fully persuaded that they 
can and do hold communication with the spirits of the de- 
parted. This conviction is widely extended and rapidly 
increasing. 

" It is believed," says a writer* who has the best means 
of obtaining information upon this subject, "that the num- 
ber of mediums in the United States must be several hun- 
dred thousands, and that in New York and its vicinity 
there must be from twenty-five to thirty thousands. There 
are ten or twelve newspapers devoted to the cause ; and 
the spiritual library embraces more than one hundred 
different publications, some of which have already attained 
a circulation of more than ten thousand copies." 

The subject has become one of practical importance to 
the Church of God. The ministers of Christ cannot pro- 
perly remain silent upon the subject. The Church and 
the public have a right to know whether they think " this 
thing is of God or of men." 

In treating of the subject I shall assume the supreme 
authority of the sacred Scriptures. It is a christian con- 
gregation that I address, and my object is to show them 
that they cannot adhere to Christianity and at the same 

*Judg« EdmondE. 



time believe in the reality of these pretended spiritual 
manifestations. " To the law and to the testimony : if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in them." 



The whole tenor of scripture is opposed to the idea 
that the spirits of the departed linger near, and can open 
communications with, our world. They are described as 
" going hence,"* " departing,"! " returning to God,"J being 
"with Christ,"|| and "in Paradise,"§ "absent from the 
body," "present with the Lord."H 

There is no intimation that they can come back to this 
our earth. On the contrary, the Scriptures plainly state 
that departed spirits do not return. David said of the lost 
child, over whom he wept with broken and remorseful 
heart, " Can 1 bring him back again ? I shall go to him, 
but he shall not return to nie."** " Cease, then," said 
Job, " and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little 
before 1 go whence I shall not return"^ And, again, 
" When a few years are come, then I shall go the way 
whence I shall not return"H The christian world, de- 
riving its impressions from sacred writ, have always 
spoken of the spirit world as " that undiscovered country 
from whose bourne no traveller returns." 

The New Testament is no less explicit than the Old. 
It represents the righteous dead as fixed, enclosed, shel- 
tered, in what in various places is called "a city," "a house," 
" a country," " a place," and by St. Peter " a prison," or 
a watch-tower of safety and of anticipation. From this 
place the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us 



* Psalm xxix, 13. f Gen. xxxv, 18. + Eccl. xii, 7. 

II Phil, i, 23. $ Luke, xxiii, 43. IT 2 Corin. v, 8. 

•*2 Sara, xii, 25. ft Job, x, 20. Jf Job, xvi, 22. 



that it is not allowed them, even for a brief period and a 
blessed and benevolent object, to depart. The rich man, 
in torment, desired that Abraham might be sent to his 
brethren on earth, to warn them lest they should come to 
the same wretched end. It was not permitted. It was 
expressly said that they had Moses and the prophets ; and 
that these were the only influences and aids which would 
be granted to deter them from sin and hell. It was added 
that these were sufficient ; and that if not convinced by 
them, neither would they be persuaded, though one went 
to them from the dead. This is testimony directly to the 
point, and, if scripture is to decide the point, perfectly 
conclusive. 

It is to be remarked, moreover, that among all the 
strange and miraculous events of both dispensations, there 
is not one instance on record of the manifestation of a 
disembodied human spirit to the minds of men. Samuel 
appeared to Saul under the incantations of the witch of 
Endor, as much to the surprise of the sorceress as to the 
terror of the impious king. But it was not the disem- 
bodied spirit of the prophet which manifested itself to 
Saul. It was his body, or a visible representation of his 
body, which God miraculously summoned for his own wise 
purposes. Moses and Elias appeared in visible forms, 
talking with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. At 
the time of the Savior's crucifixion, it was not the disem- 
bodied spirits of the saints that revisited the earth, and 
peeped and muttered and rapped through floors and tables 
at Jerusalem ; but it was " the bodies of the saints that 
arose and appeared unto many." There is not, amid all 
the miraculous appearances of angels, and of men tempo- 
rarily summoned from the regions of the dead, which are 
recorded in the Old and New Testaments, a single instance 
of a disembodied human spirit manifesting itself on earth 



and communicating with men. Had there been miraculous 
manifestations of departed spirits recorded in the Bible, it 
would have been an unwarrantable conclusion that we 
might still look for them after the age of miracles was 
past. But it is surely a striking fact in full disproof of 
these pretended spiritual communications, that there is not 
an instance of the manifestation of a disembodied spirit 
to men on earth. 

Nor is it a less significant fact, that those spirits which 
left the body and returned to it again — and that St. Paul, 
when (whether in the body or out of the body he could 
not tell) he was caught up into the third heaven — give no 
description of the state of things in the spirit-world. Our 
blessed Lord, when his Spirit returned from its sojourn in 
Paradise, did not announce to his disciples, or leave on 
record, an account of the condition of disembodied spirits. 
He added nothing from his own observations to the revela- 
tion which was made, and to be made, in reference to the 
departed. St. Paul was caught up into the third heaven, 
and the things which he saw there were things " which 
it was not lawful to utter." Lazarus, when his spirit re- 
turned from Hades, gave no description, to be transmitted 
to after times, of that mysterious abode. This reserve is 
not without deep significance. It seems to intimate, that 
as enough was revealed for knowledge, for profit, for sal- 
vation, nothing would be revealed for the gratification of 
mere carnal curiosity. God has told us all that it is need- 
ful and comforting for us to know of that spirit-world ; but 
from no spirit that has joined it have we ever had a mes- 
sage as to the condition, the pursuits, the joys, or the sor- 
rows of its inhabitants. 



II. 

But some have supposed that if we deny that the unac- 
countable phenomena connected with what are called spir- 
itual manifestations have a supernatural origin, we must 
also reject the miracles of the Bible. The statement is 
sometimes made in this plausible form : " We believe in 
the existence of a spiritual world on the ground of miracles. 
Here are supernatural phenomena which prove the same 
thing. Why not accept these miraculous evidences also, 
for the same already acknowledged truth ?" 

For good and obvious reasons we cannot accept them. 
Observe how different in reality, though made to seem the 
same in words, the cases are ! Here is a visible agent in 
the form of man, who asserts that he is God's agent, to 
tell us truth and duty, and to reveal to us a spirit-world. 
" Prove to us," we say to him, u that you are God's agent 
and speak for him. Prove to us that you have God's power, 
and speak to us in behalf of God." He does prove it by 
working miracles. He reverses the established natural 
laws of the universe. No one can do this but God, or those 
to whom God gives the power. We are sure then that 
this messenger is of God. The proof is perfect. We must 
accept his testimony ; we must believe his teachings. He 
came to teach great moral truths ; to announce a plan of 
salvation ; to put in operation a scheme of saving mercy. 
The great object of Christ's mission, and therefore of the 
miracles which proved its divinity, was not to reveal the 
existence of a spirit-world — which was already believed — 
but to show how man might be prepared to enter upon it 
in peace and safety. His miracles have an object worthy 
of miracles. We believe the great plan of redemption 
which is attested by them ; and we believe all that is 
revealed in reference to the spirit-world. 



8 

But now, how different is the case with these so- 
called spiritual manifestations ! Instead of a known and 
visible agent working a miracle to prove the truth of his 
assertion, we have only certain physical and psycological 
phenomena ; and the question with regard to them is — 
what is their cause ? Are they natural or supernatural ? 
Have they an agent ? If they have, who is he ? What is 
he ? Where is he ? In the latter case we are in search 
of the agent. In the former we see the agent ! In the 
latter we ask for the cause of the phenomena. In the 
former we see the cause ! In the latter we raise the ques- 
tion — is this a natural or supernatural effect? In the 
former we see that it is supernatural. In the latter all that 
we can see is, that the phenomena are beyond any at pres- 
ent known natural laws — not that they reverse natural laws. 
In the former we see that they reverse natural laws, and are 
therefore strictly miracles. There is not the slightest re- 
semblance between the miracles of Christianity and the 
so-called supernaturalism of spiritual manifestations. In 
the one we see an agent doing something, and in the 
other we see something done, and ask where and what 
is the agency ? In the one we see evident, beneficent and 
amazing miracles, wrought for the great and worthy pur- 
pose of revealing moral truth, and showing how we may 
be prepared happily to enter the solemn realm of souls. In 
the other we see trivial, clumsy, confused, contradictory, 
unintelligible phenomena, adduced in proof of truths better 
known before, and teachings which, when true, are but the 
elements of higher knowledge already in possession, and 
which, when false, are but the old and familiar articles of 
the creed which human depravity and ignorance have ever 
adopted. 

From these remarks it is evident why we refuse to accept 
these phenomena as confirmatory proof of the already 



admitted fact of a spirit-world. When it is asked, " why, 
admitting that there is a world of departed human spirits, 
and admitting that angelic spirits have visited the earth, 
and now minister to man — why should you deny or disbe- 
lieve that the departed human soul should renew his inter- 
course with earth ?" We answer, " because the same 
authority which assures us of the existence of souls after 
death, and of the visits of angels to our world, assures us 
also that human souls cannot communicate with us after 
death." This is our present and sufficient answer. What- 
ever might be the character of the communications which 
purported to be from departed spirits, we could not, for 
this sufficient reason, believe them. But when we come 
to look into the character of those communications, we 
shall have abundant additional reasons for rejecting them. 

III. 

But not only does the sacred Scripture announce the 
impossibility of holding communication with the spirits of 
the departed, but it denounces the attempt as impious. 

Moses, in the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy, thus writes : 
" When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy 
God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abom- 
inations of those nations. There shall not be found among 
you any that useth divination, or an observer of times, or 
an enchanter, or a witch, er a charmer, or a consulter with 
familar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all 
these things are an abomination unto the Lord." Here 
are eight different species of pretended supernatural power 
exerted by those who professed to have obtained most of 
them by intercourse with spirits, which were denounced 
by God as an abomination to him. It comes within my 
present purpose to notice only two general modes of pre- 
tended communications with the spiritual world. " The 



10 

consulter of familiar spirits," " the witch," and " the 
wizard," all professed to divine and to work wonders by the 
aid of spirits or demons. The same desire to pry into 
the future and to know more than can be known by nature, 
which gives rise to the modern "witch-man" in Africa, and 
to all pretenders to supernatural power and knowledge in 
heathen lands, no doubt gave rise to these diviners among 
the ancient heathen nations that surrounded Israel The 
Jews were often enticed into these impieties and abomina- 
tions. God denounced them and affixed to them the most 
fearful penalties. His law was, " Thou shalt not suffer a 
witch to live." " Rebellion," he says, " is as the sin of 
witchcraft," thereby indicating the nature of the sin. It is 
rebellion against God, seeking knowledge and asking aid, 
and depending upon the power, not of God in the way of 
his appointment, but from other beings. It is enumerated 
by St. Paul as among the most gross and fatal works of 
the flesh. " Sorcerers " are classed by St. John with the 
"■ abominable and murderers and whoremongers and idol- 
aters," who are to have " their part in the lake of fire." 
The New Testament contains a few instances of sor-. 
cerers — Simon of Samaria, Elymas, the sorcerer, at 
Paphos, and the damsel that had a spirit of divination. 
I do not know that any of the modern mediums profess to 
have communications with any spirits, good or evil, except 
departed human spirits and the spirits of departed an- 
imals.* 

But this pretension to communicate with and consult the 
spirits of departed human beings is classed with and de- 
nounced in the same terms as is that of the consulter of 
familar spirits. In the passage from Deuteronomy, it is 
enumerated among those pretensions to divination which 

* Spirit Rapping Unveiled, page 143. 



11 

are called an abomination to the Lord. It is called nec- 
romancy, from nekros, the dead, and manteia, prophecy. 
The proper name then of those who profess to consult the 
dead, is not Mediums, but Necromancers. They are classed 
with wizards and those that have familiar spirits in the text. 
" And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that 
have familiar spirits and unto wizards, that peep and that 
mutter: should not a people seek unto their God j For the 
living unto the dead ?" That is, "should the living resort 
for knowledge unto the dead ? Should they not resort unto 
their God ?" From this language it is evident that the 
wizards who peeped and muttered, and resorted to familiar 
spirits, professed also to bring the living to the dead for 
knowledge. 

Now, whether we are right or not in supposing that these 
ancient Necromancers did not in reality hold intercourse 
with the dead — whether this spiritual communication was 
real or pretended — certain it is, that in either case it was 
entirely prohibited by God. It was considered by him a 
presumptuous and rebellious sin. It was classed among 
the most gross and deadly offences against the majesty of 
God. 

IV. 

There are those who are deeply persuaded of the evil 
and the sin of these supposed spiritual manifestations, who 
are solemnly impressed with the belief that they are the 
work of evil spirits. They believe that evil spirits pretend 
to be human, and under this guise convey instructions with 
regard to the spirit-world and the method of salvation, 
which are directly contrary to the word of God. Some 
books have been written on this theory. It is surely a 
safer belief than that which regards these communications 
as the work of human spirits. I find myself unable to 



12 

adopt it. 1 1 should be compelled to change all my views 
of the permitted agency of evil spirits in our world. What- 
ever that agency may be, I cannot believe that they are 
now allowed to produce any physical or miraculous effects. 
Their action is on the mind and heart of the man who 
yields himself to sin and them. When, as in Apostolic 
days, they were permitted to possess the bodies and souls 
of men, there was also a visible miraculous power to 
counteract and overthrow them. There was a temporary 
and exceptional power granted to them at that time, that 
the power of Christ might be magnified in their overthrow, 
and the power and authority of the Apostles seen from the 
fact "that the spirits were subject unto them." It was 
permitted that the Christians of all ages might be impressed 
with a conviction of their existence and evil agency, and 
assured that so great was the power of Christ, that nothing 
should by any means hurt them. When miraculous powers 
ceased in the church, this temporarily permitted power of 
evil spirits also ceased. If we should believe in its present 
existence, we should be driven to look for a present miracu- 
lous counteractive power — a power of exorcism — in the 
church. We should remember, moreover, that there are 
good as well as evil spirits, and that they are ministering 
spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs 
of salvation. If, therefore, evil spirits are permitted to de- 
ceive us and palm themselves off as the spirits of our de- 
parted friends, we may be sure, I think, that good spirits 
would be permitted to undeceive us and guard us against 
their wiles. The same degree of obviousness which be- 
longed to the one class we should expect to find in the 
other. They that are for us are more than they that be 
against us. But though I cannot believe that evil spirits 
have any direct agency in these manifestations, I have a 
very solemn conviction that the great enemy of our souls, 



13 

acting on the minds of those who are ready to give ear to 
some other teaching than the law and the testimony, fosters 
the belief that these supposed spiritual communications 
are real ; because he can thus more effectually than in any 
other way counteract the blessed and saving truth as it is 
in Jesus. When we come to see what is the character of 
these alleged communications, we shall readily perceive 
what interest the great enemy of souls has in promoting 
the delusion that they are real. 

V. 

When we examine the character of the communications 
which profess to come from the spirit-world, we shall find 
abundant and overwhelming reasons for rejecting them. 

It is a sufficient reason to reject them, that almost all — 
all with scarcely any exceptions — which have been pub- 
lished to the world, plainly contradict the most precious 
truths of the Bible. With a view to prepare for this dis- 
course,! have looked over a large number of these alleged 
communications. Amidst the mass of puerilities, absurdi- 
ties, stupidities, vulgarities, and blasphemies, which would 
disgrace any ordinary intellect while in the body, I have 
yet to meet with more than one in which the pretended 
spirit professes to have been saved by the atonement, and 
to be in the presence of the Redeemer. The book of 
Judge Edmonds explicitly asserts, that these spiritual 
manifestations plainly prove " that it is no vicarious atone- 
ment that is to redeem us ; but that we are to work out our 
own salvation." It denies all the distinctive doctrines of 
the Gospel. In the midst of these spirits we find ourselves 
in society very different from that glorious company whom 
St. John represents as casting their crowns before the 
throne, and singing the new song to the Lamb that hath 
redeemed and washed them in his blood. Spirits that pro- 



14 

fcss to be happy and progressing towards perfection testify 
that matter is eternal ; that man never fell ; that he does not 
need a re-creating spirit ; that Jesus Christ was a mere man 
and a reformer ; that he made no atonement ; that he never 
rose from the dead ; that he never wrought miracles ; that 
the Bible is the work of disembodied spirits, and not of 
God; that it is a bad book, full of errors and impieties ; that 
there is no such place as hell ; that there will be no resur- 
rection and no judgment ; that churches should be broken 
up ; that civil governments should be abolished ; that the 
marriage institution should be done away.* Now these, in 
a vast majority of cases, with scarcely an exception, are 
the kind of communications which are, it is professed, 
received from spirits. If they come from spirits, surely 
they are lying spirits. What saith the Scripture ? "Though 
an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that 
which ye have received, let him be accursed !" If an angel 
should teach these things, we would reject him and them. 
How much more then spirits that peep and mutter, and 
clumsily rap and write out these awful blasphemies ! 

But it is a reason to reject them because not "even so do 
their witnesses agree together." A writer upon this subject, 
who has turned over thousands of pages of these spiritual 
communications, asserts that he has found but a solitary 
instance in which reference is made to Jesus as a divine 
Savior; to the sinfulness of man, and need of the Spirit, 
and all the peculiarities of the gospel scheme.f I have 
heard from private sources of a few other cases. Now 
here is a disagreement among the spirits. Indeed their 
teachings are of the most diverse character. Unitarianism, 
Universalism, Swedenborgianism, Transcendentalism, So- 
cialism, and every variety of opinion that is found on earth, 

*Spirit Rapping Unveiled, p. 83 — 101. 
t Author of Spirit Rapping Unveiled. 



15 

is found among these spirits. How is this ? These happy 
spirits must know now how they were saved and what is 
true. If these communications came from spirits in the 
other world, they would certainly all know, and all know 
alike, what is the truth upon these subjects. If they came 
from those who now "know even as they are known," who 
u see face to face," then, although one spirit might know 
more than another, they would never contradict each other. 
Those who profess to be in the same spheres, give us dif- 
ferent statements on these subjects. How is this ? Who 
shall decide when spirits disagree ? Until they agree among 
themselves, we may be excused in believing none of them. 
It is a reason to reject them, that they all seem to take 
their character from the medium through whom they are 
communicated. They express his feelings and opinions, 
and rise no higher in their tone than the mind of the me- 
dium, or of the person in communication with him. In 
one instance to which reference was made, in which a pre- 
tended spirit used an evangelical phraseology and uttered 
gospel truths — the medium was a pious Methodist. On 
one occasion, in the same room, a departed spirit through 
a Roman Catholic medium declared that there was a pur- 
gatory, and that it was essential to pass through its cleansing 
fires ; while another spirit through a Protestant medium 
insisted, by the most energetic raps, that there was no pur- 
gatory * And so in all those cases which I have heard of, 
in which truly" pious sentiments have been expressed, they 
came through a medium or to an enquirer who entertained 
them. So clearly does the communication take its hue 
and character from the medium, or the person communi- 
cating through him, that when George Washington, and 
Benjamin Franklin and Henry Clay, communicate through, 

•This occurred in Montreal, and was stated by a gentleman of that city. 



16 

or are summoned by, an illiterate medium, they not only 
utter deplorable nonsense, but they use bad grammar; 
they spell incorrectly, they write in a most vulgar style. I 
have been unable to find any instances in which the style 
and character of communication seem at all above the 
capacity of the medium. It is true that Judge Edmonds 
and Dr. Dexter, and Governor Tallmadge, speak in rap- 
tures of certain revelations from Lord Bacon, Swedenborg., 
and Daniel Webster, as far transcending not only their 
own intellects, but those of Plato and all the philosophers of 
the world. But I think they do themselves great injustice. 
They are too intelligent gentlemen not to have known all 
that those communications reveal before they were made ; 
for when they are intelligible, they do but reproduce the 
sentiments or dreams with which the world has been long 
familiar. What is the use of hearing from the other world, 
if we hear only the conflicting opinions that prevail in this ? 
What is the use of hearing through a medium from a spirit 
just the same kind of sentiments that we might hear from 
the medium without the spirit? 

It is a reason for rejecting these communications, that 
they are very often erroneous. They fail to tell the truth; 
It has occurred in hundreds of instances, that from what 
professed to be departed spirits there have been a great 
number of erroneous answers. They have not known 
when they died, and many other facts of a similar kind, 
which they must have known had they been the spirits of 
the departed. Some persons have summoned uncles and 
aunts, and other beings that never existed, and had long 
conversations with them. All these failures and mistakes 
and absurdities, which greatly outnumber the answers which 
are correct, are forgotten by the credulous. But these 
spirits have no right to make any mistakes, to give any 



17 

false testimony. If more than half of their statements are 
false, how can we put any confidence in the remainder? 

The answer which is made to this objection is itself an- 
other reason for rejecting these communications. It is said 
by some communications that there are low and lying spirits, 
mischievous disembodied imps, who come and pretend to be 
the spirits that they are not, and tell falsehoods and make 
mistakes and create confusion. But how can we know 
which they are? How can we know but that they who 
say this themselves deceive us ? We are all in the dark. 
We cannot see the spirits. One spirit's residence and 
farm — (for Swedenborg, through Dr. Dexter, says they 
have houses and farms*) — lies next to. that of the spirit 
of your friend, and he becomes acquainted with your 
friend's history, and comes under a table and answers 
your questions correctly, and pretends to be your friend. 
How are you to know that it is not he ? How can you 
be assured that some facetious spirit is not representing 
the spirit of your friend, and amusing himself at your 
expense? There is no test by which to "try the spirits!" 

It is a reason for rejecting these communications, that 
they make such popular spirits as George Washington and 
Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson, and some others, 
communicate through mediums thousands of miles apart 
at the same instant. This is a species of ubiquity not en- 
joyed even by the angels. Ubiquity is a prerogative of 
God. These spirits are so often summoned, that for the 
last year they must have spent a large part of their time 
out of Paradise, and under tables and floors — knocking. 
It is amazing that any person in his right mind should 
believe that these great men could be, at the same tim^, 
answering the summons of every ignorant and credu/ous 

1 ■ I J . 1 ii , . . , . i. a I ii ■■■' ' ■ ' " 

•Spiritualism, page 197. 



18 

person from California to New York and from Maine to 
Georgia, and that they should spend whole evenings in 
slowly rapping out a few sentences of unimportant intelli- 
gence, or of sentimental and mystical absurdity, of which 
they would have been ashamed on earth. 

It is another reason for rejecting these communications, 
that they exhibit none of the increased vigor of intellect 
which we are led to believe will belong to our glorified be- 
ing. On the contrary, these revelations exhibit a melan- 
choly falling off in mental power, in clearness of thought, 
and purity of style. In the appendix to Judge Edmonds's 
volume there are inserted some communications said to 
have been made to Governor Tallmadge by Daniel Webster. 
It is stated by the Governor, that it " was well remarked 
by a gentleman of the highest order of intellect present, 
after the communications closed, that he had read all the 
old philosophers from Plato down to Bacon, and had never 
seen any thing equal to these communications." Now, I 
venture to say, that any man of ordinary sense, not infected 
with this new witchcraft, who had not read either Plato or 
Bacon, but had read Mr. Webster's published volumes, 
would at once assert, that while on earth Mr. Webster 
never wrote a half page of such unmitigated absurdity as 
these pretended communications. I am tempted to give 
a specimen of what is considered the very highest and 
sublimest style of spiritual communications. I quote a 
passage which one of the disciples present praised as pe- 
culiarly clear and strong, and like Mr. Webster. 

" If you will keep open we will give you ideas of life 
which you have not yet received. It is the active part of 
light we cling to ; and you can as much see it as the light 
that incites it to action. Life is the active principle, and 
light th« essence of that principle. We can extract prin- 
ciple-essences as you extract wine from the grape. Put 



19 

some principle under the press, such as life, motion, &c, 
by compressing them we get or rather let out the light, and 
it flies away, and we have the hulls of life, motion, &c, left 
us for our trouble."* 

All about light — but very dark. Surely the "light is 
let out " and flown away. And this is the stuff that is to 
throw Christianity into the shade! This is the style in 
which the great, clear intellect of Webster now speaks ! 
w The active part of light." " Light the essence of life." 
" The hulls of life" " the hulls of motion." But I seem 
to be rebuked by the remembered majestic presence of 
that great man for repeating, even in the way of illustra- 
tion, such poor, unintelligible mysticism as from him. If 
we do really hear from our great men who have departed 
from this world, it is very discouraging to find how much 
they have deteriorated in intellect. If these communica- 
tions are real, they add to all other apprehensions of death 
the not unreasonable fear that we shall progress in the 
wrong direction. 

It is a reason for rejecting these communications, that 
they abound with contradictions, puerilities and absurdities, 
which are inconceivable to those who have not examined 
the subject, and to which it would be unpardonable for me 
in this place even to allude, were it not that I earnestly de- 
sire to deter my friends from giving heed to these lying 
wonders, by showing that their folly is equal to their wick- 
edness. 

From the publication of Judge Edmonds, Dr. Dexter, 
and Governor Tallmadge — which is altogether the most 
able and respectable of these productions which I have 
seen — which professes to contain revelations from Lord 
Bacon and Swedenborg, I have gleaned and thrown to- 

•Spiritualism, page 396. 



20 

gether without order from amidst a multitude of similar 
absurdities and contradictions the following. 

The spirits of Swedenborg and Bacon, though professing 
to come from the 7th sphere, and to be at liberty to choose 
their own residence according to their taste and the degree 
of their development, yet constantly give us their impres- 
sions, their opinions, their arguments, and not their knowl- 
edge of the state of things in the spheres.* They frequently 
confess their ignorance.f They contradict themselves. 
They postpone answers to questions and say they will con- 
sult some of the older spirits.} At one time Swedenborg 
says, that the spirit when it leaves the flesh has a new body 
waiting it, into which it enters. At another time, when 
hard pressed with the idea that the soul evolves from itself 
a new body, he yields to the argument, and thinks it must 
be so.§ On several occasions the Judge has the better of 
the argument, and the discomfited spirit, a little out of 
humor, remonstrates with him, on his wish to reconcile 
and harmonize all the revelations. || It is announced that 
spirits have material bodies and occupy material abodes.H 
Bad and undeveloped spirits are said to be almost black.** 
The good spirits communicate with us for their own im- 
provement and advancement. Judge Edmonds's departed 
wife professes to have been much advanced by communi- 
cations with him.ft The happiness of departed spirits and 
their unhappiness is much affected by our own.JJ The pro- 
gressive spirits " suffer more of what may be called hell" 
than the degraded spirits. |||| The spirits did not say much 
against the pretensions of Christ at first, because they did 
not want to shock the prejudices of the Christian world.§§ 



•Spiritualism, page 126. 


fid., 148. 


i Id., 129. 


§ Id., 265. 


|| Id., 117. 


1TId., 175. 


**Id.,169. 


ft Id., 182. 


ft Id., 178. 


11 II Id., 232. 


§§Id., 209. 





21 

Lord Bacon says that his reasonings in relation to Jesus 
Christ must " be accepted for what they are worth, as he 
could not give the true history of his birth and life and 
mission." He says it is known to spirits in a higher posi- 
tion than his own, and that there is as much difference of 
opinion about him in the spheres as on earth * Sweden- 
borg tells us — and I think it not at all an attractive an- 
nouncement — that he and other spirits deliver lectures in 
the spheres.f In the early part of the day the spirits study 
and hear lectures, or discharge the duties connected with 
their condition ; and in the after part of the day they visit 
friends in the spheres or friends on earth. Spirits in the 
higher spheres eat but about once in a week.J If the 
spirit suffer pain, " it arises from some violation of the or- 
ganic part of its body."|| In the dark spheres they have 
fire, but in the upper spheres they have no need of it. 
" They have no money, and the land is subdivided into 
communities or neighborhoods, and in them the land is 
again laid out in parcels for each to till for the benefit of 
all." The government is patriarchal, and the patriarch is 
an invisible spirit who communicates by impression or by 
oral statements.^ In short, they are Socialists. Such are 
some of the features of this new revelation. Of stuff like 
this the book is full. Other publications from less intelli- 
gent sources have far grosser follies than even these. By 
such stuff it is that professed Christians, according to the 
express speaking of the Spirit, through St. Paul, " depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines 
of devils." I pray you, brethren, " refuse these profane 
and old wives' fables, and exercise yourselves rather unto 
godliness." 



* Spiritualism, page 213. j Id., 277. 

1 Id., 278. || Id., 279. § Id., 279. 



22 

It is a reason for rejecting these communications, that 
they had done no one good, and have worked awful 
evil. They have brought sorrow into many homes. They 
have sent their deluded disciples from the spiritual circles 
into the mad-house. They have overthrown many fine intel- 
lects, and withered many noble hearts. 

And what have all these pretended revelations added to 
our knowledge ? What idea, true or false, is now in the 
world, that was not here before ? Not one ! The sum of 
all their verbose and mystic teaching, so far as it is 
moral or religious — all the " principle-essence" that can 
be extracted from them, like wine from the grape, is this : 
" It is a good thing to be good, and after death we shall 
progress in goodness." It needs no ghost, come from the 
grave, to tell us this '. When these teachings come 
through an illiterate medium, they are very much like the 
dying confessions of some poor criminal, who has repented 
of his sin and professes to be at peace. When they come 
through Judge Edmonds, and others of the same class of 
minds, it is a kind of tipsy Swedenborgianism. 

How reviving and elevating it is to turn from these puer- 
ilities to the true revelation ! " I am the resurrection and 
the life, saith the Lord." " He that believeth in me, though 
he were dead, yet shall he live." "And God shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any 
more pain, for the former things are passed away." "And 
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to 
shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the 
Lamb is the light thereof." In these few words there is 
more to enlighten the mind, to fill the heart, and to satisfy 
the aspirations of our spiritual nature, than all that has yet 
reached us from the seven-times seven circles of the seven 
spheres. 



23 

The christian representation of the condition of the spir- 
its of our departed friends who died in Christ, is soothing, 
satisfying, and delightful. They are at rest in Paradise. 
The sorrows and trivialties of this world do not reach them. 
They are amid holy beings. They consort with angels. 
They see the Savior. They await in happy anticipation 
" their perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and 
soul, in everlasting glory." Now how degrading a concep- 
tion it is that these pure spirits, occupying a nobler sphere 
of being, and enjoying loftier associations and fellowships, 
should be hovering near our earth ; should be cognizant of 
and disturbed by our petty cares and sorrows ; should act 
the part of newsmonger and fortune-teller ; should peep 
and mutter under floors and tables ; should struggle to 
communicate with us in modes so gross and repulsive, and 
with communications which are of so little worth ; and 
should exhibit so little of the elevation and the glorious in- 
telligence, and the beautiful gifts, which we should expect 
from those who are to be equal to the angels. That minds 
which know nothing of the sublime spiritualities of the 
gospel should have been drawn into these delusions, is not 
strange; but that all Christians who have known and med- 
itated upon the spiritual world revealed in the Bible should 
not at once, from the instincts of their new nature, reject 
this spurious and imaginary world of spirits, seems surpris- 
ing. The word of God has warned us against these errors. 
" Now the spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times 
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing 
spirits, and doctrines of devils." The church has thus far 
been almost entirely exempt from this delusion. It has 
been in the hands of infidels, visionaries, and filthy dream- 
ers. Some, however, as the apostle foretold, have given 
heed to these seducing spirits, " and have denied the faith." 
1 see not how a thorough believer in these pretended spir- 



24 

itual revelations can retain belief in the old revelation. 
They are contradictory in their statements, and utterly 
alien to each other in their spirit. 

VI. 

But, it is asked, " if these communications are not from 
spirits, from what source do they come ?" They are from 
some intelligence — an intelligence seemingly superior, in 
its knowledge of facts, past and to come, to that of man. 
What and whose intelligence is it ? These are questions 
for the philosopher, the physiologist, the psychologist, and 
the physician. The theologian and the preacher do their 
part in this investigation, when they show that these phe- 
nomena are not to be referred to the spirits of the de- 
parted. The opinion of one who has personally witnessed 
none of these phenomena, and who has but scanty know- 
ledge of those branches of science which are involved in 
them, would be little worth. I have no hesitation in say- 
ing, however, that many of the phenomena connected with 
this state of trance, or mesmerism, or odyc fluid, have not 
received, and 1 doubt whether they ever will receive, a full 
and intelligible explanation. It is in vain to say that it is 
all deception. There has been much deception ; but many 
of the most remarkable of these phenomena have been 
undoubted, and rest upon testimony that is perfectly unex- 
ceptionable. When the folly and delusion which have 
connected them with the spirit-world shall have ceased, it 
may be that something like these results will be reached 
and rested in, through the labors of philosophy and science. 
It may be found that there is an abnormal condition in which 
the mind and the body, especially of persons of highly ner- 
vous temperament, may be placed, in which the mind acts 
without being conscious of its action, and that this condi- 
tion is connected with an undue excitement of the nervous 



25 

influence, which will be found to constitute a principle dif- 
ferent from electricity or galvanism, and which has already 
received the name of the odyc fluid, which can pass from 
human bodies into material things, and move them ; and 
which, as in the case of the phenomena of biology, uniting a 
person of strong nervous organization with a weak one, 
brings the mind of the weaker under the temporary domin- 
ion of the stronger. 

Such a theory as this may, ere long, be generally re- 
ceived, and a multitude of facts may confirm • its truth. 
But that the rationale of all the wonderful phenomena of 
our day can be satisfactorily explained by it, I have no 
hope. Nor is my mind, nor should any mind, be in the 
least degree disturbed by the fact that there are mysteries 
connected with our mental and spiritual and corporeal 
nature, which are inexplicable. When a man has explained 
to me all the mysteries and unintelligibilities of my com- 
pound nature, when in its natural or normal state, it will 
be time for him to demand that we should either explain 
all the still more obscure phenomena which are connected 
with an unnatural condition, when thrown into trance, or 
under an undue and unhealthy nervous influence, or refer 
them to the presence and agency of spirits. I am not at- 
tempting to explain these phenomena, but only to indicate 
the direction and method in which an explanation may 
possibly be found. A general cause for them all may be 
discovered, though the rationale of some particular in- 
stances under that general cause it may not be possible to 
trace. 

Indeed these phenomena, which are now referred to 
spirits, due doubtless to natural laws and powers not yet, 
and perhaps never to be, fully understood, have appeared 
in all ages of the world ; and under the names of sorcery, 
demonolgy, magic, witchcraft, and inspiration, have be- 



26 

wildered and terrified individuals and generations. The 
student upon this subject will find the phenomena of the 
present day in the abominations of the heathen denounced 
in the Old Testament, in the magicians of Egypt, in the 
wonders of Indian magic, in the oracles of Greece and 
Rome, in the sorceries and incantations of the northern 
nations, in the witchcraft of Salem, and in the Jumpers of 
Kentucky. " There is no new thing under the sun." 

My friends and brethren, I have brought this subject to 
your attention because much interest has been excited in 
regard to it in this community, and because I have been re- 
quested to express my views, and because I fear that some 
of you may be led, thoughtlessly, from curiosity and with 
no idea of its impropriety, to tamper with this impious de- 
lusion of communicating with spirits, to the injury of your 
own souls and the souls of others. I earnestly entreat 
you, under the persuasion that it is a crime denounced by 
God, not to allow yourselves either to act as mediums, or to 
be present where others are professing to act as mediums, 
or in any way to countenance this dangerous delusion. 
Allow yourselves to make no experiments in reference to 
these phenomena, and to witness none, unless it be dis- 
tinctly understood that it is done in the belief that they 
are referable to natural laws. In the present state of the 
public mind I believe it would be wise not to meddle with 
them at all, but to leave them altogether in the hands of 
men of science. As these phenomena cannot be realized 
except in the case of undue and unnatural excitement of 
the nervous system, I believe them injurious to the health 
alike of the body and of the mind. Some who have be- 
gun these experiments in curiosity have ended them in 
madness. No good has hitherto resulted to any human 
being from all these alleged communications. I pray you 



27 

let them alone. Refuse to have any thing to do with them. 
If you would meditate upon and hear from the spirit-world, 
go to your Bible. One page of that will give you clearer 
and more satisfactory views of it than all the revelations 
of necromancers and wizards since the world began. "And 
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have 
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mut- 
ter : should not a people seek unto their God ? for the living 
to the dead ? To the law and to the testimony ; if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in them." Remember the solemn language of St. 
John, " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God, because many false prophets are 
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the spirit of 
God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that con- 
fesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of 
God ; and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have 
heard that it should come, and even now already is it in 
the world." 

How solemn are these words ! From whatsoever spir- 
its these communications may have come, they do not abide 
the test proposed by St. John, and therefore are not to be 
received. 

My friends, you must make your choice between the 
system of the Gospel and this system of pretended spirit- 
ual manifestations. They cannot both be long held toge- 
ther. If you give up the Gospel, then what have you for 
your joy in life, and your peace in death? You have a 
system which is a mere earthly answer to the questions of 
an earth-born curiosity. You have before your mistaken 
hope successive spheres of being which are but a repro- 
duction, scarcely elevated or improved, of the life of earth. 



28 

You have before you imaginary worlds in which sorrow 
and imperfection enter. But for the real wants of your 
immortal and spiritual nature there is no provision. Oh, at 
the solemn hour when your soul shall stand on the border 
of the eternal world, it will need something more than to 
be amused with vague pictures of spheres of being, the 
existence of which your credulity has accepted on the most 
illusive evidence, and in which re-appear all the uncertain- 
ties, the trivialties, the conflicting opinions, and the sorrows 
of the present world ; and in which the soul is still banished 
far off from God, its Father! In that dread hour the real 
want of your soul will be forgiveness of conscious sin, and 
renewal for a nature which you will then know to be un- 
holy. The cry of your spirit will be for pardon, purity, the 
presence of God, the absence of all evil and all imperfec- 
tions — for a world of complete blessedness, for fellowship 
with angels and with just men made perfect. When 
these delusions shall stand before your disenchanted soul 
in all their earthly and carnal grossness, and the great 
truths of the Gospel, long neglected and disowned, shall 
shine into it, with self-evidencing brightness, you shall see 
as by one broad flash of light the true condition of your own 
soul, and the true nature of that future for which its wing 
is spread — oh then this poor earth-born gospel, which tells 
you of the soul's self-development and progress, will be but 
the dread announcement that your spirit, dead in sin, un- 
pardoned, unreconciled to God, shall go on in a career of 
accumulating wretchedness ; and thus the promise of the 
false new gospel, harmonizing with the announcement of 
the true and olden Gospel, shall make your shuddering 
heart believe and see, ere yet you realize, in your sad expe- 
rience the solemn truth of both evangels, " That whatso- 



29 



ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." " He that 
soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; he 
that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life ever- 
lasting." 



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